I have a rule of thumb: if I can’t confidently say yes, I say no. It keeps with my conservative personality; it serves me well. But once in a while I keep thinking about a no I’ve said, and wonder if I should have said yes. Seeing this Mercury Grand Marquis gave me one of those moments.

You see, I thought seriously about buying JPCavanaugh’s son’s sweet ’89 MGM LS last autumn. You’re not likely to find a 25-year-old MGM in better cosmetic condition anywhere. I even test drove it, checkbook in my pocket. I was a little surprised by how tight the cabin was, but I was even more surprised by how tightly the car handled.

JPC sweetened the deal by saying that his son was ready to let it go for a song. He was trying to push me past some obvious problems with the AOD transmission, which would promptly need to be replaced. My independent mechanic could have done the job inexpensively. I tried to rationalize it: for a few grand, I could enjoy this car for a year, give or take, and probably sell it for more than I’d sunk into it. But no amount of rationalization could bring me to that confident yes. I needed a no-hassle daily driver, and I worried that even after fixing the transmission this old car would need occasional and typical little repairs. I kept my money.

Days later, JPC announced he’d sold it. Shortly thereafter, it appeared in a front yard around the corner from my house with a For Sale sign in the windshield, priced at a profit even after presumably replacing that transmission. There’s no doubt it was the same car; its paint scheme is custom. Damn, that could have been me.

Things have a way of working out. The first of June, the company I worked for realized it couldn’t afford to pay me anymore and let me go. I’ve got a son headed to Purdue in the fall. The money I was going to use to buy that gray-over-silver Grand Marquis was going to come from money I’d set aside to pay for his freshman year. I figured I’d make it up out of a bonus I was due to achieve. But that bonus is now never going to come, and it’s not clear when I’ll have a regular paycheck again. Seeing this lesser Grand Marquis caused me to pause and reflect. I concluded that I was wise to say no.

And lesser it truly is, not just because it’s the lower-trim GS, but because it has rust spots here and there around the body. That baby blue paint isn’t bad, but it lacks the elegance of that gray over silver.

But still, I walked away feeling a touch of sadness.

39 Comments

I know the feeling well, JG. In college, I found a 70 Chrysler Newport 2 door, rust free, air conditioned, under 50K miles, and it could have been mine for $800 (this was about 1980 or 81). Alas, it was $800 I didn’t have and couldn’t get. My mother was displeased with my frequent car swapping and was in no mood to finance my latest infatuation. All these years later, I have never forgotten that Newport. I know that it all worked out for the best (the 71 Scamp was probably much better for me). But still.

I went shopping for my first car in 1981, and well equipped to loaded (and very big) full-size cars were fairly easy to find in good condition and at low prices thanks to the recent second oil price shock. I recall wandering a few car lots and peaking in the doors of things like a 1969 Mercury Marauder, a 1973 Caprice Coupe, and really setting eyes on a few early ’70s GM full-size convertibles – super nice ones for about $2,500!.

But, my dad was wandering the lots with me, and big loaded gas guzzling cars just didn’t feel right. My dad always bought very practical full size cars such as a Chevy Impala, and jumping over him in the luxury and prestige area just didn’t feel right. And taking on a big block V-8’s thirst probably would not have been very wise in his mind. So, like so many other high school kids at the time, I shopped GM A bodies.

If I felt bad about leapfrogging over my parents’ choices of transporation in terms of prestige or age, my ownership history would be quite different. My folks for a long time followed a steady diet of buying already old cars, then driving them into the ground…so there have been quite a few points in my life when I’ve had a far nicer car. Of course, my first car was my mom’s old car, so it wasn’t an issue then. And the tables have turned now–both of their cars are less than five year old, low mileage examples, and I’m again driving a hand-me-down from Mom. So maybe I got my comeuppance after all–I had nice rides in my late 20’s, and now at almost 35, I’m driving an 18 year old Ford.

Your comment about these being tighter inside than you might think hits home – I owned a 1987 Grand Marquis LS for several years. It seemed like a large car in 1991-1995 when I had it, but they look almost petite now when I occasionally see one.

Not just that generation MGM but the last generation MGM was cramped also. Last year i was giving serious thought to buying a 98-2011 era Grand Marquis because I wanted to own a traditional big American car and the MGM along with the Vic and Town Car were the last of the breed.

At the time I owned a 1997 Buick Lesabre,which while classified as a full size car was smaller then the MGM.

I test drove a 2005 Grand Marquis (black on black) and to me it felt like the MGM was smaller inside and more cramped then the Lesabre at least in regards to the drivers side.

And some people will tell you the spike in ’77 New Yorker sales was not a backlash against GM’s downsizing. Not a huge backlash in hard numbers, but I think sales doubled from about 30,000 in 1976 to over 60,000 in 1977. Industry sales were very good in 1977, but a doubling was rare, and a doubling of a 4 year old Chrysler design had to have some explanation.

The architecture on modern cars is just so different with their emphasis on height to make a more efficient cabin in a moderate size footprint.

The impression we get of the Panther interior from the year 2015 makes me wonder if their really was no saving the Panther, even with a major rework. There probably isn’t any real consumer market for miniaturized “longer, lower, wider” era type cars.

Your first gen Focus was the car where I really noticed the change in architecture. I’m generally dedicated to large cars, and I thought the first gen Focus was a rather amazing bit of packaging when it came out.

Even the picture of a lowly early 2000’s Taurus from Mr. Stopford’s Merkur piece makes the change from 1980’s architecture to modern architecture apparent…..

Ah, the one that got away! I think we all have similar stories. Yes, even me although I know it seems I can’t say no.

I hope you find a new job soon, good luck! Or it’s a great opportunity to re-assess if you want to try your hand at something completely different…I understand Paul needs help getting his houses ready for new tenants 🙂

I’m sure you’ve already done so but check with Purdue as this may change any financial aid eligibility significantly as well.

My “one that got away” was a 1966 Chrysler New Yorker 4-door hardtop, maroon with black vinyl roof. Body had had one repaint over original steel and looked flawless. Fully loaded including factory disc brakes and black leather interior with power bucket seats and center console. Spotted it when my wife and I were vacationing in BC, in a parking lot with a for sale sign in the window. Owner was selling to finance the restoration of a T-bird. I called him again after we got home from vacation but it was sold.

To rub salt in the wound, the car (had to be the same one!) wound up on ebay about 5 years later. The buyer had parked it outside and it was looking a bit rough, plus needed mechanical work (rear end was making noise, I forget what other problems). I hope it went to a good home.

Sometimes the road not taken turns out to be the bullet dodged, so no point worrying about it now. (That said, I still wish my dad had plunked down for that MGB GT years ago, that he passed on about a week before his daily-driver Beetle dropped a valve and needed an engine rebuild…we could have had, well, a different headache at least!)

I sold an 89 Grand Marquis LS about four years ago. I owned it for 8 years and just got tired of looking at it and I really didn’t need it. It still ran like a top even with 328,000 miles on it but the paint was starting to show its age. Sometimes I think I should have kept it.

In my case, when I say yes I tend to regret it. Every time I see one of these MGMs, I run my own internal financial audit, and come up short. Just yesterday I looked at a tatty mid 90s gold over gold GM. The same lot had 3 of nearly the same color, but different years, yet nearly the same price.
I’ve decided I’m going to hold out for an 80s 2 door GM or a nice wagon.

I had the one that got away. Hit all my soft points: First Chevy of the 80s, right size, roomy,quiet, great ride, economical, universally loathed [points in my book], horrible reputation for reliability, A GM Deadly Sin [ more points ] and a bit of a mess when I got it.

Traded for an 86 Olds Calais, which my brother has and is reviving. I’ve regretted letting it go for years now. Such a symbol of GM failure [more points]. I’d love to find another one.

One can’t explain what hits a nerve with people and their love of automobiles. This one is still the personal benchmark of what I want in a car in size, interior room, ride and low noise levels. Minus the sketchy reliability, of course.

Yes, it’s sick.

The 2nd one was the 64 Valiant Wagon with automatic in original condition, serviced and ready to roll for 2600. That was just last year. Would have made a nice complement to my 63 Signet.

I understand how you feel. I have been down that road several times regarding cars not bought and have had both regret and a sense of relief depending upon which car I think about.

Though sometimes things do have a habit of working out in the end.

In the summer of 2014, the place I had bought my Firebird and Lesabre got a nice looking 1995 Cadillac Deville on the lot. The car was actually the owner’s mother in law’s car. They were asking $1300 for it and it had about 110,000+ miles on it(I cannot remember the exact mileage) The car was as is and it was not MD State Inspected so I could not get tags until it passed inspection which meant that I could not keep it at my home(as the HOA frowns on cars without tags). It also had a check wallet light(aka the check engine light) that came on and off, had a prominent misfire and need front brakes. The plus side was that the car was in great shape cosmetically inside and out and everything worked. I passed on it as I had a 1997 Lesabre daily driver, a 1999 Firebird for nice weather driver and a 2000 Mitsu Mirage for beater duty.

Fast forward to May of 2015 and on a visit to the car lot to shoot the $%$T with the sales person I know there and are friends with and I found out they reduced the price to $1000 for the Deville. I pondered for a few minutes and then bought it. several things had changed in the past 6 months which made buying it a no brainer. The big thing was that it now was 20 years old and qualified for historic tags in the state I lived in. This mean that I could have it tagged without out an inspection so I could keep the car at my home and work on it at my leisure.(I will run it through inspection when I finish all the work needed) The other thing was that I had gotten rid of the Mirage so there was room for another car in the house hold.

Since I have all the tools I needed to fix the car plus the knowledge to do so, I decided “what the heck” and bought it. Since buying it, I have spent about $700 on it getting it registered, paying the taxes and tag fees on it and fixing all the previously mentioned issues plus adding a Bluetooth USB stereo(I long gave up on regular radio) and 4 tires. What is interesting is that the plugs and wires were the originals from the factory(over 20 years old) I still need to replace the one motor mount and it still has a very slight misfire when driving away from a stop. but that is minor.

My dad had an STS with the Northstar engine that made it to 125K without much incident (other than stupid stuff like A/C compressor grenading) before he traded it in, so I know how seductive that exhaust sound is, trust me!

This brings back memories of my ’85 Grand Marquis LS. It was white with a beautiful medium blue vinyl roof (only one of that color I had ever seen.) Its only problem, if you wish to call it that, was that it had throttle-body injection instead of multi-port, so was a slug off the line. I had it seven years and it was dead quiet and very easy to drive. It helped I had a ’93 Pontiac Bonneville with the LSE package for the top handling and guts. I lost the Merc from an accident (other guy’s fault, just too much damage to fix) and still miss it.

As for the newer Panthers, they do seem to have a short rear compartment. The cure is to get a Town Car. They have a 3-inch longer wheelbase.

I seriously wanted a Fox Continental and found one waiting for my approval. I drove it home and showed my parents, who wondered why I’d want that kind of a car. However I did. I decided to think about it overnight and discovered the next day that the corporation I was working for, terminated my department. I had two hours to pack up before a security guard escorted me out onto Michigan Avenue.

I have always loved Fox body cars and had the pleasure of having two of them. The Continental would have been three. I still sigh when I see one.

The first generation Panther didn’t take advantage of all the interior possibilities to make them roomier than they became with the next generation. They did seem a bit tight, even with the Town Car of that generation. I believe Ford had a lot on it’s plate in developing the Panther, and they dropped the ball a bit on interior room. The redesigned Panther bodies fixed that, except for the rear leg room. My ’03 Vic Sport isn’t a big car, rear-leg-room-wise, yet feels much roomier than the first generation Panther.

Over the past year, I’ve had similar regrets on cars I could potentially have afforded and which I would have enjoyed moreso than I feel others would (i.e. mint-condition 6-cyl. ’81 Camaro Rally Sport w/ T-tops), but it always comes back to my need for a safety net. Jim, I was okay with letting the Camaro (among other cars go), and hopefully you feel okay about letting JPCavanaugh’ son’s former car go, too. And a bummer about your old job. Years ago, I was unemployed for four months after an employer eliminated my position after 10+ years of service, but I lived to tell about it. Hopefully you’ll find something way better soon.

I actually have a regret on a very similar car, but under different circumstances. I once owned a 1991 Crown Vic, last year of the “rounded corner box” body. Really nice car, in good shape for the age. I had only owned it for about 6 months when a short in the alternator caused a small underhood fire, which was put out quickly but not before it damaged the main wiring harness. That was enough to total the car insurance-wise. I could have bought the car back with a salvage title for under $200 and attempted to repair the damage myself. Even if I’d had to pay a shop to replace the wiring harness, time-consuming though it may have been, I’d have come out ahead financially and been able to continue driving a car that I enjoyed. But, as a college student in the middle of a move to new housing, I didn’t. Still pains me to think of that car, with near-perfect body and interior, going to the scrapyard; hopefully its parts kept others running.